Today we have quite sad news for the Fairphone community.
Our amazing CEO, Eva Gouwens, has made the bittersweet decision to step down from her post as of 1 September 2023. Eva joined Fairphone in 2017, and took over as CEO in 2018, tasked with scaling up Fairphone’s operations and impact. We are very proud of what she has achieved in her six-year run as our leader, making Fairphone the most sustainable option in the world when it comes to smartphones.
As a company, Fairphone grew by leaps and bounds, in terms of team strength, product portfolio, and actual impact. Early this year, Fairphone successfully secured a sizeable investment to scale its impact and we are now confidently entering our next growth next phase with new investors. While Eva moves on, Fairphone’s management team and supervisory board - Josephine de Zwaan, Eelco Blok and Bas van Abel - will be leading Fairphone during the transition period.
I think it helped a lot to have this strong lady onboard. My respect Eva. There should be more of your kind.
After making Tony’s Chocolonely a well know brand she popped into Fairphone and lifted it onto a higher level.
I believe she’s out for the next challenge and consider Fairphone as an epitaxial product that should be grown enough to keep up in the business.
Who knows where Fairphone had landed without her efforts.
And not to forget, there was a pandemic and Fairphone remains in business.
I’m curious where her next business strike will land.
Update: August 25, 2023: Starting on September 1, 2023, Fairphone’s CFO and Managing Director, Noud Tillemans, will be stepping in as Interim CEO. As a long-standing member of the Management Team, Noud will be leading Fairphone through the transitory period and will cooperate with the Supervisory Board and new shareholders in the recruitment and selection of a new Chief Executive Officer. Read the statement by outgoing CEO Eva Gouwens below.
